1st September (sunny and hot) 0 km

OMG…..or for us older set….Oh My God. I had really wanted a good night’s sleep last night as I hardly got any the night before, with the antics of our two camp nuisances. Fell into a great sleep and have no idea how long it was before I was woken by a sound that came straight from the depths of the earth. It was loud and lion–like and it shook the room.

You guessed it….Dad was snoring. Now you have to know that my father inherited that snore from a world famous snorer, his father. I can remember being at my Grandfather’s house when we were kids and my Grandad snoring upstairs, except that it sounded like he was in the same room. You think I’m exaggerating, but I kid you not. This is what happened last night. It doesn’t matter that you climb out of bed and shake him awake, or throw a pillow at him (gently of course), he will apologise, fall asleep and within a minute, be doing it again. Five times last night I woke him, until at 5.30am, I decided to write the blog from yesterday.  Love ya dad, but glad you’re moving rooms today.

We didn’t have to be anywhere fast, so dad and I took stroll along the road to the bakery to buy some baguettes for breakfast, with a couple of pastries. One thing I forgot to mention yesterday was the enormous police presence in Paris. They are out everywhere, especially at the bigger train stations. Because our hotel is just across the road from one, and because the police station is just up the road, they were in the bakery, all kitted up with assault rifles and body armour.

Food was yummy and at 10am we left to wander along the Seine taking in various sites as we went. This was a much different Paris. Not many people, relaxed atmosphere and wonderful opportunities for photos. The weather was warm and sunny, turning hot in the afternoon. First point of interest was Notre Dame…..the bells….the bells. Didn’t go inside. There are only so many churches, even for people as religious as Ju and I. We were monitoring the tide mark on the banks of the Seine and you wouldn’t have wanted to have been there when it reached some of the levels.

In front of the Notre Dame

Pont Neuf

Pont Neuf - so named due to the nine arches

Along to Pont Neuf, what a stunning bridge. This is the oldest standing bridge across the Seine in Paris and construction finished in 1607.  We were enjoying the relaxed pace and discovering whatever came our way.  As we wondered across the next bridge to get a photo of Pont Neuf, we noticed a grand building on the other side.  We were keen for a coffee and according to MapsMe, there was a Starbucks on the other side of that grand building so we wandered through one of the arched entranceways into the inner courtyard.

The Institute of France - an impressive looking building

“Wonder what this place is?” we asked each other and then saw the plaque on the wall.  Le Louvre no less.  How fortunate for fine art appreciators such as ourselves.  Famous for being the world’s largest art museum, it was apparently constructed in 1190 as a fortress.  Not a very successful life as a fortress because it was destroyed and rebuilt in 1546 as a Palace, and was added to by every French monarch up until 1793, when it took on its current role as museum. In 1989 the Louvre pyramid was built and has featured in Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code.

Another impressive looking building.  It was also huge and turned out to be the Louvre

First effort with the selfie stick

After this we did find Starbucks and realised they’re all about the buck and not so much the star as coffee prices were about $10 apiece.  Consequently the place was empty so we went across the road to good old Macca’s and got a reasonable coffee and a muffin for $7NZ.

Think the pigeon was aiming for the
mouth - he got pretty close!

On to the Luxor obelisk. Originally located at the entrance to the Luxor temple, where it’s twin remains to this day. It is 3000 years old and has stood on this site since 1883, when it was given to the French by the viceroy of Egypt. Not sure a lot of thought went into that gift giving – transporting that thing back to France must have been a nightmare!  It weighs in at 230 ton so hardly the sort of thing you can slip into your hand luggage.

Along the Champs d’Elysees  where we took in the L’Arc de Triomphe, (glad we didn’t have to ride our bikes here!) before heading across the most ornate bridge in Paris, built in 1900, the Pont Alexandre III. This is a stunning bridge, named after the Russian Tzar. Opened just in time for the Universal Exposition which attracted 50 million visitors….in those days…? That’s incredible even today.

L'Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysees

Tulieries Gardens

Pont Alexandre III

The Eiffel Tower, completed over two years and finished in 1889. Gustave Eiffel was asked to halt construction on the tower as the Parisians did not want the monstrosity. For 40 years it was the tallest man-made structure in the world and over 7 million people ride in its elevators each year.  Not us though – might bite into our coffee fund.

Went looking for an ice-cream and Dad decided he needed some money so we stopped at a cashpoint.  Within seconds we had three people loitering around us, so we didn’t get any money out there and went instead to an indoor cashpoint.

Got on the Metro at Champs des Mars and as we were going through the ticket turnstile, a young woman managed to unzip dad’s pants!  And we weren’t even near the Moulin Rouge district!  After checking that his wallet was still in the zippered pocket (it was), he called us back and told us what had happened.  Lucky for him he felt the contact and she abandoned the sting. But we did watch her and her male cohort try it on a couple more times from the opposite platform, with other unsuspecting folk. After arriving back at the hotel, we showered and went out for dinner just down the road. Back after a nice meal, we settled in for the night. Dad in his new room, just two doors down, but far enough, perhaps, not to hear him. Will let you know tomorrow if that was the case.